Isaiah 32

1 Behold, the king will reign in justice, and the princes will rule in judgment.

Look, a king will reign in righteousness, and princes will rule in justice.

2 And a man will be like someone hidden from the wind, who conceals himself from a storm, or like rivers of waters in a time of thirst, or like the shadow of a rock that juts out in a desert land.

Each one will be like a shelter from the wind and a refuge from the storm, like streams of water in a dry place, like the shade of a great rock in a land of weariness.

3 The eyes of those who see will not be obscured, and the ears of those who hear will listen closely.

Then the eyes of those who see will not be dim, and the ears of those who hear will hear attentively.

4 And the heart of the foolish will understand knowledge, and the tongue of those with impaired speech will speak quickly and plainly.

The rash will think carefully with understanding, and the stutterer will speak distinctly and with ease.

5 He who is foolish will no longer be called leader, nor will the deceitful be called greater.

The fool will no longer be called honorable, nor the deceiver called principled.

6 For a foolish man speaks foolishness and his heart works iniquity in order to accomplish deception. And he speaks to the Lord deceitfully, so as to empty the soul of the hungry and to take away drink from the thirsty.

For the fool speaks folly, and his heart plans evil and godless actions, and he speaks wrongly against Yahweh. He makes the hungry empty, and the thirsty he causes to lack drink.

7 The tools of the deceitful are very wicked. For they have concocted plans to destroy the meek by lying words, though the poor speak judgment.

The deceiver's methods are evil. He devises wicked schemes to ruin the poor with lies, even when the poor say what is right.

8 Yet truly, the prince will plan things that are worthy of a prince, and he will stand above the rulers.

But the honorable man makes honorable plans; and because of his honorable actions he will stand.

9 You opulent women, rise up and listen to my voice! O confident daughters, play close attention to my eloquence!

Rise up, you women who are at ease, and listen to my voice; you carefree daughters, listen to me.

10 For after a year and some days, you who are confident will be disturbed. For the vintage has been completed; the gathering will no longer occur.

For in a little more than a year your confidence will be broken, you carefree women, for the grape harvest will fail, the ingathering will not come.

11 Be stupefied, you opulent women! Be disturbed, O confident ones! Strip yourselves, and be confounded; gird yourselves at the waist.

Tremble, you women who are at ease; be troubled, you confident ones; take off your fine clothes and make yourselves bare; put on sackcloth around your waists.

12 Mourn over your breasts, over the delightful country, over the fruitful vineyard.

You will wail for the pleasant fields, for the fruitful vines.

13 Thorn and brier will rise up, over the soil of my people. How much more over all the houses of gladness, over the city of exultation?

The land of my people will be overgrown with thorns and briers, even in all the once joyful houses in the city of revelry.

14 For the house has been forsaken. The multitude of the city has been abandoned. A darkness and a covering have been placed over its dens, even unto eternity. It will be the gladness of wild donkeys and the pasture of flocks,

For the palace will be forsaken, the crowded city will be deserted; the hill and the watchtower will become caves forever, a joy of wild donkeys, a pasture of flocks;

15 until the Spirit is poured over us from on high. And the desert will be a fruitful field, and the fruitful field will be considered as a forest.

until the Spirit is poured on us from on high, and the wilderness becomes a fruitful field, and the fruitful field is considered as a forest.

16 And judgment will live in solitude, and justice will be seated in a fruitful place.

Then justice will reside in the wilderness; and righteousness will live in the fruitful field.

17 And the work of justice will be peace. And the service of justice will be quiet and secure, forever.

The work of righteousness will be peace; and the result of righteousness, quietness and confidence forever.

18 And my people will be seated in the beauty of peacefulness, and in the tabernacles of faithfulness, and in the opulence of restfulness.

My people will live in a peaceful habitation, in secure homes, and in quiet resting places.

19 But hail will be in the descent of the forest, and the city will be brought exceedingly low.

But even if it hails and the forest is destroyed, and the city is completely annihilated,

20 Blessed are you who sow over any waters, sending the feet of the ox and the donkey there.

you who sow beside all the streams will be blessed, you who send out your ox and donkey to graze.